food.recentrunes.com Archives - 21 March 2012, Wednesday

There’s a difference between being sated and being full. Satiation is the state where you’ve achieved full gratification and satisfaction; you’re unable to take in any more. Being full may not bring about satiation. So during dinner at Fat Cow , we decided that we needed a late supper...

would know what I’m talking about. Basically if you buy something so expensive, you’re gonna want to know where it came from and if it was genuine. For Japanese Wagyu beef, there’s usually a certificate proudly displayed at the restaurant showing the provenance. For the awesome Kobe b...

Soba So Good (Cold Soba with honey-soy sauce) I’ve just finished Michelle Maisto’s wonderful “The Gastronomy of Marriage – A memoir of food and love “. I was handed this book as part of Rachel’s efforts to get me to appreciate women authors (I find them mostly boring; always alternati...

Anyway, I was a little disappointed when I found out from my friend (whom we’ll call, for reasons of privacy, “Ganesh”) that it will be a drinkies-doo at the foyer of the hotel instead of a proper sit-down dinner; at about $200, it’s an expensive drinkies-doo-doo. In any case, since G...

Penang Recipe on Upper Thompson Road My first experience with Penang Assam Laksa was at the Gurney Drive beachfront before it all got relocated because of serious erosion. It was an epiphany for me on the balance of flavors. On the seafront with a strong wind blowing in, it was comfor...

Mee Goreng as the National Dish of Singapore Was having Mee Goreng for lunch yesterday when it occurred to me that Mee Goreng is the one dish that uniquely defines the melting pot of cultures that is Singapore. It’s neither Chilli Crabs nor is it Chicken Rice. Think about it. It is co...

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Kraze Burger is a burger (duh!) chain that hails from South Korea. It was brought to my attention by a few friends after a unsatisfactory dinner at Fat Cow (more on that later). So one fine Saturday afternoon, I decided to head out to Liang Court to give it a try. There’s another outl...

Penang Recipe on Upper Thompson Road My first experience with Penang Assam Laksa was at the Gurney Drive beachfront before it all got relocated because of serious erosion. It was an epiphany for me on the balance of flavors. On the seafront with a strong wind blowing in, it was comfor...

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The company at the bar was brisk and interesting. People were coming in and wondering what to eat and us, having tried most of the menu, played the Devil’s advocates. There was an elderly Brit who looked like Burgess Meredith, he hailed every Chinese-looking person at the bar with the...

2012 doesn’t look to be a good year, so there’s no helping but to start it with a fortifying meal. This time I decided to take it easy and do a very simple meal with a 3 new dishes that I’ve been aching to try out. Also, this year, we have a vegetarian joining us, so I was particularl...

I was ill for several months this year and have not cooked for a long time, so I guess I needed a challenge. I wanted to cook Christmas dinner for mum and sis but her goddaughters were present when I asked, therefore, in a fit of insanity, I also invited the two girls with their paren...

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If you asked me to sum up the year 2009 in a single word, it would have to be “Hope” as in I hope this year would end quickly. This is because 2009 was not an especially encouraging year economically, although many investment gurus and bankers will tell you that this is the best year ...

Using a saucepan, dissolve the Gula Melaka in the hot water. Reduce the Gula Melaka mixture to make 1 cup of syrup. Filter the syrup and chill overnight. For the Avocado Ice Cream: Halve the avocados and scoop out the flesh into a blender. Add the lime juice onto the avocados. Pour th...

Longjiang Seafood at Commonwealth Avenue Since everyone was living around the area, Jeff organized dinner at Longjiang Seafood when he read about it in the papers. This was a refreshing change for me because usually good restaurants don’t occur near me; I have to like, hunt them down....

I like Marmite. Most friends from overseas know that and would, to my utter delight, bring a jar from abroad when they visit. My favorite would be a jar of XO Marmite presented to me by Su-Lin of Tamarind and Thyme . Of course, the huge jar of Marmite from New Zealand (from a Swiss fr...

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The Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Cambridge I probably shouldn’t be writing this as I still cannot put a finger on my heavy sense of dissatisfaction with the Gourmet Burger Kitchen in Cambridge, UK. However, the food was great and you should go find out for yourself if it’s true. While you’...

Don’t mind me, I’m just planning Christmas Dinner I was at my sister’s and mine birthday dinner last weekend where she brought her goddaughters. Like any angsty teenager, they were complaining about the parents. One complaint was about how they can’t get to eat beef medium-rare becaus...

I use my secret marinade for game meats but you can use salt and pepper to season the duck breast before cooking. The cold dry (meaning no oil) pan is important; starting on a pre-heated pan sears and locks up the fat and you end up with a overly-fatty piece of meat. You can also use ...

The green stains on the livers come from burst gallbladders during butchering. It’s horribly bitter which is why we try to remove it as much as we can or simply discard the liver if it’s too stained. Duck livers give a deeper and richer taste, if you can find it. Constantly tasting wh...

But what attracted me was a 1939 piece by Joseph Mitchell entitled “All You Can Hold For Five Bucks”. It was an exposé on the New York steak dinner or “Beefsteak”. It lamented how the whole beefsteak dungeon (as the underground cellars where the action was were called) scene was ruine...

Ivan : @Janelle: Second time round reading it and I invite you to ponder upon the name of this... janelle : pratchett! a fellow pratchett lover! is it ‘snuff’ you’re reading? ivan : @Xin: For me, Nasi Lemak is a comfort food, as long as it evocative of fond memories of... ivan : @alka...

A hamburger at Luke’s Oyster Bar and Chophouse Truth be told, I deal with stress by cooking and eating. Mostly eating. This is why on a particularly trying day at work, I told myself I needed a hamburger for lunch. A serious burger for a serious man on a serious day. And some solitude...

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Dietary Choices or Carry On Regardless Basically it started, as I understand it with my limited male-gendered brain, when lady, who is a noted (famed for it really) foodie with special dietary preferences, was displeased when her suitor was unable to suggest a suitably epicurean venue...

The Ox-tail soup caught me by surprise. Almost Zen in it’s presentation, it was a clear consomme with strands of daikon and a single cube of beef in it. The thing about Japanese cuisine is that it is a mindful cuisine, you need to contemplate the subtlety of the cosmos and perhaps med...

“Properly made marmalade has no peer as the crowning glory on a piece of hot, buttered toast. On a morning dark and drear, it is superbly restorative, a welcome lift as the new day begins, sweet but not cloying, a ray of sunshine spooned from a jar”

Eating Hungarian Szalonna in Singapore Hungarian Szalonna (Sah-Lon-Na) is a fantastic piece of pork product; it is basically your back bacon with rind that’s smoked. And because it’s part of traditional Hungarian cuisine, it’s readily available in any butcher or supermarket. Hungarian...

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Flor Patisserie by Chef Yamashita on Duxton Hill It is said that the Japanese have an acute over-developed sense of specialization. They are the world’s foremost perfectionists, even more so than the Germans. Witness the Japanese Matsusaka Beef , Americans talk about beef marbling but...

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The Wok & Barrel on Duxton Hill KF Seetoh once said to me as we were waiting for Nasi Lemak that Singapore has become a nation of fearful eaters because people have become leery of fat, sugar and other evils like trans-fat and carbohydrates. I have to agree and I can do nothing as I s...